History of modern man
See also: Timeline of modern man , 10,000 BCE – 2,000 CE (vertical population scale is logarithmic)}} The history of the world, in common parlance, is the history of humanity (or human history), as determined from , , , , and other disciplines; and, for periods since the , from and from and studies. Humanity's written history was preceded by its , beginning with the ("Early Stone Age"), followed by the ("New Stone Age"). The Neolithic saw the begin, between 8000 and 5000 , in the 's . During this period, humans began the systematic of plants and animals. As agriculture advanced, most humans transitioned from a ic to a settled lifestyle as farmers in . The relative security and increased productivity provided by farming allowed communities to expand into increasingly larger units, fostered by advances in . Whether in prehistoric or historic times, people always needed to be near reliable sources of . Settlements developed on as early as 3000 BCE in , on the banks of 's , in the , and along China's rivers. As farming developed, became more sophisticated and prompted a to store food between growing seasons. Labour divisions led to the rise of a leisured and the development of , which provided the for . The growing complexity of human societies necessitated systems of and . With civilizations flourishing, (" ," including the , up to about 500 CE ) saw the rise and fall of empires. (the " ," c. 500–1500 CE ) witnessed the rise of , the (c. 750 CE – c. 1258 CE), and the early Italian (from around 1300 CE). The mid-15th-century invention of modern , employing , revolutionized and facilitated ever wider dissemination of , helping end the Middle Ages and ushering in the . The , sometimes referred to as the "European Age", from about 1500 to 1800, included the and the . By the 18th century, the accumulation of and had reached a that brought about the and began the , which started around 1800 and has continued through the present. This scheme of historical (dividing history into Antiquity, Post-Classical, Early Modern, and Late Modern periods) was developed for, and applies best to, the history of the , particularly Europe and the Mediterranean. Outside this region, including and , historical timelines unfolded differently. However, by the 18th century, due to extensive and , the histories of most civilizations had become . In the last quarter-millennium, the rates of growth of , knowledge, technology, communications, commerce, weapons destructiveness, and environmental degradation have greatly accelerated, creating opportunities and perils that now confront the planet's human communities. Neolithic Revolution The , beginning around 10,000 BCE, saw the development of agriculture, which fundamentally changed the human lifestyle. Farming developed around 10,000 BCE in the Middle East, around 7000 BCE in what is now China, around 6000 BCE in the and Europe, and around 4000 BCE in the Americas. Cultivation of and the occurred around 8500 BCE in the Middle East, where wheat and barley were the first crops and and s were domesticated. In the Indus Valley, crops were cultivated by 6000 BCE, along with domesticated cattle. The Yellow River valley in China cultivated and other cereal crops by about 7000 BCE, but the Yangtze River valley domesticated earlier, by at least 8000 BCE. In the Americas, s were cultivated by about 4000 BCE, and and s were domesticated in Central America by 3500 BCE. es were first cultivated in the Andes Mountains of South America, where the was also domesticated. , starting with around 6000 BCE, was first used for tools and ornaments. soon followed, with its main use being for ornaments. The need for metal ores stimulated trade, as many of the areas of early human settlement were lacking in ores. , an alloy of copper and , was first known from around 2500 BCE, but did not become widely used until much later. , , , 26th century BCE}} Though early appeared at and around 6000 BCE, the first civilizations did not emerge until around 3000 BCE in and . These cultures gave birth to the invention of the , , bronze-working, boats, the , woven cloth, construction of monumental buildings, and . Writing developed independently and at different times in five areas of the world: Egypt (c. 3200 BCE), India (c. 3200 BCE), Mesopotamia (c. 3000 BCE), China (c. 1600 BCE), and Mesoamerica (c. 600 BCE). Farming permitted far denser populations, which in time organized into . Agriculture also created food surpluses that could support people not directly engaged in food production. The development of agriculture permitted the creation of the first . These were centres of , and . Cities established a with their surrounding , absorbing agricultural products and providing, in return, manufactured goods and varying degrees of military control and protection. , , , , 24th century BCE}} The development of cities was synonymous with the rise of . " comes from the civilis, meaning "civil," related to civis ("citizen") and civitas ("city" or "city-state").}} arose first in Lower Mesopotamia (3000 BCE), followed by along the (3000 BCE), the in the (in present-day India and Pakistan; 2500 BCE), and along the and (2200 BCE). These societies developed a number of unifying characteristics, including a central government, a complex economy and social structure, sophisticated language and writing systems, and distinct cultures and religions. Writing facilitated the administration of cities, the expression of ideas, and the preservation of information. Entities such as the Sun, Moon, Earth, sky, and sea were often deified. s developed, which evolved into establishments, complete with a complex hierarchy of and other functionaries. Typical of the Neolithic was a tendency to worship . Among the earliest surviving written religious scriptures are the Egyptian , the oldest of which date to between 2400 and 2300 BCE. Ancient history Cradles of civilization , }} The Bronze Age is part of the ( , , ) that for some parts of the world describes effectively the early history of . During this era the most fertile areas of the world saw s and the develop. These were concentrated in fertile river valleys: the in , the in , the in the , and the and s in China. , located in , is the first known complex civilization, developing the first s in the 4th millennium BCE. It was in these cities that the earliest known form of writing, , appeared around 3000 BCE. Cuneiform writing began as a system of . These pictorial representations eventually became simplified and more abstract. Cuneiform texts were written on s, on which s were drawn with a blunt used as a . Writing made the administration of a large state far easier. Transport was facilitated by waterways—by rivers and seas. The , at the juncture of three continents, fostered the projection of military power and the exchange of goods, ideas, and inventions. This era also saw new land technologies, such as horse-based cavalry and chariots, that allowed armies to move faster. , , }} These developments led to the rise of territorial states and s. In Mesopotamia there prevailed a pattern of independent warring city-states and of a loose hegemony shifting from one city to another. In Egypt, by contrast, first there was a dual division into which was shortly followed by unification of all the valley around 3100 BCE, followed by permanent pacification. In Crete the had entered the Bronze Age by 2700 BCE and is regarded as the first civilization in Europe. Over the next millennia, other river valleys saw monarchical empires rise to power. In the 25th – 21st centuries BCE, the empires of and arose in . Over the following millennia, civilizations developed across the world. increasingly became a source of power as states with access to important resources or controlling important trade routes rose to dominance. By 1400 BCE, began to develop. In India this era was the , which laid the foundations of and other cultural aspects of early Indian society, and ended in the 6th century BCE. From around 550 BCE, many independent kingdoms and republics known as the s were established across the subcontinent. As complex civilizations arose in the Eastern Hemisphere, the indigenous societies in the remained relatively simple and fragmented into diverse regional cultures. During the in (about 1500 BCE to 500 CE), more complex and centralized civilizations began to develop, mostly in what is now Mexico, Central America, and Peru. They included civilizations such as the , , , , and . They developed agriculture, growing , s, , es, and es, crops unique to the Americas, and creating distinct cultures and religions. These ancient indigenous societies would be greatly affected, for good and ill, by European contact during the early modern period. Axial Age }} }} Beginning in the 8th century BCE, the " " saw the development of a set of transformative philosophical and religious ideas, mostly independently, in many different places. Chinese , Indian and , and are all claimed by some scholars to have developed in the 6th century BCE. ( ' Axial-Age theory also includes n , but other scholars dispute his timeline for Zoroastrianism.) In the 5th century BCE, and made substantial advances in the development of . In the East, three schools of thought would dominate Chinese thinking well into the 20th century. These were , , and . The Confucian tradition, which would become particularly dominant, looked for not to the force of law but to the power and example of . Confucianism would later spread to the and toward . In the West, the philosophical tradition, represented by , , , and other philosophers, along with accumulated science, technology, and culture, diffused throughout , Egypt, the , and Northwest India, starting in the 4th century BCE after the conquests of Alexander III of ( ). Regional empires The millennium from 500 BCE to 500 CE saw a series of empires of unprecedented size develop. Well-trained professional armies, unifying ideologies, and advanced bureaucracies created the possibility for emperors to rule over large domains whose populations could attain numbers upwards of tens of millions of subjects. The great s depended on of territory and on the formation of defended settlements to become agricultural centres. The relative peace that the empires brought encouraged , most notably the massive trade routes in the , the maritime trade web in the Indian Ocean, and the . In southern Europe, the (and later the ), in an era known as " ," established cultures whose practices, laws, and customs are considered the foundation of contemporary . , , 6th century BCE}} , }} erected by 's Emperor }} , }} , , c. 210 BCE}} , }} There were a number of regional empires during this period. The kingdom of the helped to destroy the in tandem with the nomadic and the . , the capital of Assyria, was sacked by the Medes in 612 BCE. The gave way to successive empires, including the (550–330 BCE),the (247-224 BCE to CE) and the (224–651 CE). Several empires began in modern-day Greece. First was the (from 477 BCE) and the succeeding (454–404 BCE), centred in present-day . Later, (356–323 BCE), of , founded an empire of conquest, extending from present-day Greece to present-day India. The empire divided shortly after his death, but the influence of his successors made for an extended (323–31 BCE) throughout the region. In Asia, the (322–185 BCE) existed in present-day ; in the 3rd century BCE, most of was united to the Maurya Empire by and flourished under . From the 3rd century CE, the oversaw the period referred to as ancient India's Golden Age. From the 4th to 6th centuries, northern India was ruled by the . In southern India, three prominent kingdoms emerged: the , , and . The ensuing stability contributed to heralding in the golden age of culture in the 4th and 5th centuries. In Europe, the , centered in present-day , began in the 7th century BCE. In the 3rd century BCE the began expanding its territory through conquest and alliances. By the time of (63 BCE – 14 CE), the first Roman Emperor, Rome had already established dominion over most of the Mediterranean. The empire would continue to grow, controlling much of the land from to , reaching its greatest extent under the emperor (died 117 CE). In the 3rd century CE, the empire split into western and eastern regions, with (usually) separate emperors. The Western empire would , in 476 CE, to German influence under . The eastern empire, now known as the , with its capital at , would continue for another thousand years, until Constantinople was conquered by the in 1453. In China, the (221–206 BCE), the first imperial dynasty of China, was followed by the (206 BCE – 220 CE). The Han Dynasty was comparable in power and influence to the Roman Empire that lay at the other end of the . Han China developed advanced cartography, shipbuilding, and navigation. The Chinese invented s, and created finely tuned copper instruments. As with other empires during the Classical Period, Han China advanced significantly in the areas of government, education, mathematics, astronomy, technology, and many others. , , }} In Africa, the , centred in present-day Ethiopia, established itself by the 1st century CE as a major trading empire, dominating its neighbours in South and and controlling the trade. It minted its own currency and carved enormous monolithic s such as the to mark their emperors' graves. Successful regional empires were also established in the , arising from cultures established as early as 2500 BCE. In , vast pre-Columbian societies were built, the most notable being the (700 BCE – 1521 CE), and the , which reached its highest state of development during the Mesoamerican Classic period (c. 250–900 CE), but continued throughout the Post-Classic period until the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century CE. Maya civilization arose as the gradually declined. The great Mayan s slowly rose in number and prominence, and Maya culture spread throughout the and surrounding areas. The later empire of the was built on neighbouring cultures and was influenced by conquered peoples such as the s. Some areas experienced slow but steady technological advances, with important developments such as the and arriving every few centuries. There were, however, in some regions, periods of rapid technological progress. Most important, perhaps, was the in the region of the , during which hundreds of technologies were invented. Such periods were followed by periods of technological decay, as during the 's decline and and the ensuing period. Declines, falls, and resurgence The ancient empires faced common problems associated with maintaining huge armies and supporting a central bureaucracy. These costs fell most heavily on the ry, while land-owning s increasingly evaded centralized control and its costs. pressure on the frontiers hastened internal dissolution. 's fell into in 220 CE, beginning the period, while its counterpart became increasingly decentralized and divided about the same time in what is known as the . The great empires of Eurasia were all located on temperate and subtropical coastal plains. From the n steppes, horse-based nomads, mainly Mongols and Turks, dominated a large part of the continent. The development of the and the breeding of horses strong enough to carry a fully armed archer made the nomads a constant threat to the more settled civilizations. in , , now a }} The gradual break-up of the , spanning several centuries after the 2nd century CE, coincided with the spread of outward from the Middle East. The Western Roman Empire fell under the domination of in the 5th century, and these gradually developed into a number of warring states, all associated in one way or another with the . The remaining part of the Roman Empire, in the eastern Mediterranean, continued as what came to be called the . Centuries later, a limited unity would be restored to western Europe through the establishment in 962 of a revived "Roman Empire", later called the , comprising a number of states in what is now Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy, and parts of France. In China, would rise and fall, but, by sharp contrast to the Mediterranean-European world, dynastic unity would be restored. After the fall of the and the demise of the Three Kingdoms, ic tribes from the north began to invade in the 4th century, eventually conquering areas of northern China and setting up many small kingdoms. The successfully reunified the whole of China in 581, and laid the foundations for a Chinese golden age under the (618–907). Post-classical history , }} The Post-classical Era, though deriving its name from the Eurocentric era of " ", refers to a broader geographic sweep. The era is commonly dated from the 5th-century , which fragmented into many separate kingdoms, some of which would later be confederated under the . The Eastern Roman, or survived until late in the Post-classical, or Medieval, period. The Post-classical period also encompasses the , the subsequent , and the commencement and expansion of the , followed by the in the Middle East and Central Asia, and the founding around 1280 of the . saw a series of , followed by the establishment of . In western Africa, the and the developed. On the southeast coast of Africa, Arabic ports were established where , , and other commodities were traded. This allowed Africa to join the trading system, bringing it contact with Asia; this, along with Muslim culture, resulted in the . experienced the successive , , , , and early dynasties. Middle Eastern trade routes along the Indian Ocean, and the through the Gobi Desert, provided limited economic and cultural contact between Asian and European civilizations. During the same period, civilizations in the , such as the , , and , reached their zenith; all would be compromised by, then conquered after, contact with at the beginning of the . Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia Prior to the advent of in the 7th century, the was dominated by the and the Persian , which frequently fought each other for control of several disputed regions. This was also a cultural battle, with the Byzantine Hellenistic and Christian culture competing against the Persian Iranian traditions and . The formation of the created a new contender that quickly surpassed both of these empires. Islam greatly affected the , , and of the , especially the Middle East. , , founded 670 CE}} From their centre on the Arabian Peninsula, Muslims began their expansion during the early Postclassical Era. By 750 CE, they came to conquer most of the Near East, North Africa, and parts of Europe, ushering in an era of learning, science, and invention known as the . The knowledge and skills of the ancient Near East, Greece, and Persia were preserved in the Postclassical Era by Muslims, who also added new and important innovations from outside, such as the manufacture of paper from China and decimal positional numbering from India. Much of this learning and development can be linked to geography. Even prior to Islam's presence, the city of had served as a centre of trade in Arabia, and the Islamic prophet himself was a merchant. With the new Islamic tradition of the , the pilgrimage to Mecca, the city became even more a centre for exchanging goods and ideas. The influence held by Muslim merchants over African-Arabian and Arabian-Asian trade routes was tremendous. As a result, Islamic civilization grew and expanded on the basis of its merchant economy, in contrast to the Europeans, Indians, and Chinese, who based their societies on an agricultural landholding nobility. Merchants brought goods and their Islamic faith to , , , and the kingdoms of western , and returned with new discoveries and inventions. , }} Motivated by religion and dreams of conquest, European leaders launched a number of to try to roll back Muslim power and retake the . The Crusades were ultimately unsuccessful and served more to weaken the , especially with the 1204 . The Byzantine Empire began to lose increasing amounts of territory to the Ottoman Turks. Arab domination of the region ended in the mid-11th century with the arrival of the , migrating south from the Turkic homelands in Central Asia. In the early 13th century, a new wave of invaders, the , swept through the region but were eventually eclipsed by the Turks and the founding of the in modern-day around 1280. saw the rise of polities formed by the , such as the in , the in , and the in . The region will later be called the and will host pirates and privateers who will use several North African ports for their raids against the coastal towns of several European countries in search of slaves to be sold in North African markets as part of the . Starting with the (581–618), the Chinese began expanding into eastern , and confronted nomads, who were becoming the most dominant ethnic group in Central Asia. Originally the relationship was largely cooperative, but in 630 the began an offensive against the Turks, capturing areas of the Mongolian Ordos Desert. In the 8th century, Islam began to penetrate the region and soon became the sole faith of most of the population, though Buddhism remained strong in the east. The desert nomads of could militarily match the nomads of the steppe, and the early gained control over parts of Central Asia. The were the most powerful of the nomad groups in the 6th and 7th centuries, and controlled much of the region. In the 9th through 13th centuries the region was divided among several powerful states, including the the , and the . The largest empire to rise out of Central Asia developed when united the tribes of Mongolia. The spread to comprise all of Central Asia and China as well as large parts of Russia and the Middle East. After Genghis Khan died in 1227, most of Central Asia continued to be dominated by a successor state, . In 1369, , a Turkic leader in the Mongol military tradition, conquered most of the region and founded the . Timur's large empire collapsed soon after his death, however. The region then became divided into a series of smaller khanates that were created by the . These included the , the , and the , all of whose capitals are located in present-day . Europe during the was characterized by depopulation, deurbanization, and invasion, all of which had begun in . The barbarian invaders formed their own new kingdoms in the remains of the . In the 7th century, North Africa and the Middle East, once part of the , became part of the after conquest by 's successors. Although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, most of the new kingdoms incorporated as many of the existing Roman institutions as they could. Christianity expanded in western Europe, and monasteries were founded. In the 7th and 8th centuries the , under the , established an empire covering much of western Europe; it lasted until the 9th century, when it succumbed to pressure from new invaders—the , , and s. , }} During the , which began after 1000, the population of Europe increased greatly as technological and agricultural innovations allowed trade to flourish and crop yields to increase. —the organization of peasants into villages that owed rents and labour service to nobles—and —a political structure whereby s and lower-status nobles owed military service to their overlords in return for the right to rents from lands and s—were two of the ways of organizing medieval society that developed during the High Middle Ages. Kingdoms became more centralized after the decentralizing effects of the breakup of the . The , first preached in 1095, were an attempt by western Christians from nations such as the , the and the to regain control of the from the s and succeeded for long enough to establish some Christian states in the Near East. Italian merchants imported , , , , and to work as household slaves and in processing . Intellectual life was marked by and the founding of universities, while the building of was one of the outstanding artistic achievements of the age. The were marked by difficulties and calamities. Famine, plague, and war devastated the population of western Europe. The alone killed approximately 75 to 200 million people between 1347 and 1350. It was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. Starting in Asia, the disease reached Mediterranean and western Europe during the late 1340s, and killed tens of millions of Europeans in six years; between a third and a half of the population perished. The Middle Ages witnessed the first sustained of northern and western Europe. Many modern European states owe their origins to events unfolding in the Middle Ages; present European political boundaries are, in many regards, the result of military and dynastic events during this tumultuous period. The Middle Ages lasted until the beginning of the in the 16th century, marked by the rise of s, the division of Western in the , the rise of in the , and the beginnings of European overseas expansion which allowed for the . '' of 's , 's first }} In and , in 1386, the and the (the latter including territories of modern and ), facing depredations by the and later also threats from , the , and the , formed a through the marriage of Poland's Queen to Jogaila, who became King of Poland. For the next four centuries, until the 18th-century by , , and , the two polities conducted a federated , long Europe's largest state, which welcomed diverse ethnicities and religions, including most of the world's , furthered scientific thought (e.g., 's ), and—in a last-ditch effort to preserve their —adopted the , the world's second modern written constitution after the that went into effect in 1789. Sub-Saharan Africa " ", }} Medieval was home to many different civilizations. The declined in the 7th century as Islam cut it off from its Christian allies and its people moved further into the for protection. They eventually gave way to the who are famed for their rock cut architecture at . The Zagwe would then fall to the who claimed descent from the Aksumite emperors and would rule the country well into the 20th century. In the West African region, many Islamic empires rose, such as the , the , the , and the . They controlled the in gold, ivory, salt and slaves. South of the Sahel, civilizations rose in the coastal forests where horses and camels could not survive. These include the city of , noted for its art, and the , the of the centred in , the which produced advanced bronze art at , and the who are noted for their intricate architecture. saw the birth of several states, including the . In what is now modern , native Africans created various kingdoms such as the . They flourished through trade with the on the East African coast. They built large defensive stone structures without mortar such as , capital of the , , capital of , and (Dhlo-Dhlo), capital of the . The Swahili people themselves were the inhabitants of the East African coast from Kenya to Mozambique who traded extensively with Asians and Arabs, who introduced them to Islam. They built many port cities such as , and , which were known to Chinese sailors under and Islamic geographers. South Asia , , }} In northern , after the fall (550 CE) of the , the region was divided into a complex and fluid network of smaller kingly states. Early Muslim incursions began in the west in 712 CE, when the Arab annexed much of present-day . Arab military advance was largely halted at that point, but Islam still spread in India, largely due to the influence of Arab merchants along the western coast. The for control of northern India took place in the ninth century. The struggle was between the , the and the . Some of the important states that emerged in India at this time included the and the . Post-classical dynasties in South India included those of the , the , the , the Islamic , the and the . Science, engineering, art, literature, astronomy, and philosophy flourished under the patronage of these kings. East Asia After a period of relative disunity, was reunified by the in 581 and under the succeeding (618–907) China entered a . The Tang Empire competed with the for control of areas in Inner and Central Asia. The Tang dynasty eventually splintered, however, and after the reunified China, when it was, according to , the "richest, most skilled, and most populous country on earth". Pressure from nomadic empires to the north became increasingly urgent. By 1142, North China had been lost to the in the , and the in 1279, along with almost half of Eurasia's landmass. After about a century of Mongol rule, the ethnic Chinese reasserted control with the founding of the (1368). }} In , the imperial lineage had been established by this time, and during the (538–710) the developed into a clearly centralized state. was introduced, and there was an emphasis on the adoption of elements of Chinese culture and . The of the 8th century marked the emergence of a strong Japanese state and is often portrayed as a golden age. During this period, the imperial government undertook great public works, including government offices, temples, roads, and irrigation systems. The (794 to 1185) saw the peak of imperial power, followed by the rise of militarized clans, and the beginning of . The feudal period of Japanese history, dominated by powerful regional lords ( s) and the military rule of warlords ( s) such as the and , stretched from 1185 to 1868. The emperor remained, but mostly as a figurehead, and the power of merchants was weak. Postclassical saw the end of the era, the three kingdoms being , and . Silla conquered Baekje in 660, and Goguryeo in 668, marking the beginning of the (?????), with in the south and , a successor state to Goguryeo, in the north. In 892 CE, this arrangement reverted to the , with Goguryeo (then called and eventually named ) emerging as dominant, unifying the entire peninsula by 936. The founding Goryeo dynasty ruled until 1392, succeeded by the dynasty, which ruled for approximately 500 years. Southeast Asia temple, , early 12th century}} The beginning of the Middle Ages in saw the fall (550 CE) of the to the , which was then replaced by the (802 CE). The Khmer's capital city was the largest city in the world prior to the industrial age and contained over a thousand temples, the most famous being . The (1238 CE) and (1351 CE) kingdoms were major powers of the , who were influenced by the Khmer. Starting in the 9th century, the rose to prominence in modern . Other notable kingdoms of the period include the and the (both coming into prominence in the 7th century), the and the (both about 750), the (968), (13th century), (1293), (1354), and the (1364). formed tribal alliances such as the . It was during this period that Islam spread to present-day Indonesia (beginning in the 13th century) and saw the emergenece of the , including the and the . Several Philippine polities have also risen during this period such as , the , the , and the . Oceania , (Easter Island)}} In the region of , the was founded in the 10th century CE and expanded between 1200 and 1500. Tongan culture, language, and hegemony spread widely throughout Eastern , and Central during this period, influencing East 'Uvea, Rotuma, Futuna, Samoa and Niue, as well as specific islands / parts of Micronesia (Kiribati, Pohnpei and miscellaneous outliers), Vanuatu and New Caledonia (specifically, the , with the main island being predominantly populated by the Melanesian and their cultures). At around the same time, a powerful appeared in Eastern Polynesia centred around the , specifically on the sacred , which drew in Eastern Polynesian colonists from places as far away as Hawaii, New Zealand ( ), and the Tuamotu Islands for political, spiritual and economic reasons, until the unexplained collapse of regular long-distance voyaging in the Eastern Pacific a few centuries before Europeans began exploring the area. Indigenous written records from this period are virtually non-existent, as it seems that all Pacific Islanders, with the possible exception of the enigmatic and their currently undecipherable script, had no writing systems of any kind until after their introduction by European colonists; however, some indigenous prehistories can be estimated and academically reconstructed through careful, judicious analysis of native oral traditions, colonial ethnography, archaeology, physical anthropology and linguistics research. Americas , , }} In , this period saw the rise of the in the modern-day c. 800 CE, marked by the extensive 12th-century urban complex at . The and their predecessors (9th – 13th centuries) built extensive permanent settlements, including stone structures that would remain the largest buildings in North America until the 19th century. In , the civilization fell and the occurred. The came to dominate much of Mesoamerica in the 14th and 15th centuries. In , the 14th and 15th centuries saw the rise of the Inca. The of Tawantinsuyu, with its capital at , spanned the entire Andes Mountain Range, making it the most extensive Pre-Columbian civilization. The Inca were prosperous and advanced, known for an excellent and unrivaled . Notes References Category:History of man